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Without the aid of
narcotics, Andy Kaufman was the least predictable comedian on '80s network television. On
air, whether live or live-on-tape, he was known to mutter inaudibly, space out, pick
fights and launch into jarring, surreal song-and-dance numbers. Kaufman got laughs the way
a good horror flick gets laughs: by making us embarrassed at our own nervousness and
gullibility. "Man on the Moon" captures the mood of Kaufman's stand-up act while
paying loving tribute to the late comic. You'll cringe as often as you'll laugh, but just
like a Kaufman stunt, it's all intentional.
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One hundred Years Innovators |
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What He Started: Half a century ago, the Magnificent Misfit of
Method exploded onto the national consciousness as Stanley Kowalski in Broadway's A
Streetcar Named Desire. Innovative in his tough, tormented style of acting, Brando was
worshipped by the working classes, who identified with the roles he played, and was the
darling of intellectuals, who saw in his work an animal vitality and emotional
displacement that excited and saddened them. The golden age of the unconventionally and
strikingly sexual Brando--Streetcar and On the Waterfront--was followed by a
period of predictably painful decline. The Godfather was his redemption, and he
played Don Corleone with a mastery of nuance and gesture that was quietly, almost
invisibly, overwhelming.
His Legacy: Brando was not only a contenda--he was the champ for the scores of
actors who worshipped his work and followed faithfully in his method footsteps. The gifts
he perfected at Lee Strasberg's studio were handed down to stars as diverse as James Dean,
Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. |
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